Broken bones, broken boards and big barrels

The last of the winter swells that swept along the South African coastline brought an end to an epic J’Bay winter, one that has been rated as the best in many a year by the local surfers.

Supertubes firing on all cylinders.

Surfing is an extreme sport and one of the most experienced surfers in the line up, Marky Paarman suffered a bad injury when he broke his foot in half after being caught by the lip.

He managed to get to the beach and had to be carried up the the sand dune and will be out of action for many months after having broken most of the bones in his foot.

Warren Dean getting barrelled at Supertubes.

There were many broken surfboards during the swell as the local surfers were joined in the line up by crews that had travelled along the coast from Durban and Cape Town to catch some of the finest waves the winter had offered.

The crowds did not deter the locals from dominating Supertubes as usual with Stevo Kneelo getting the most waves and Deon Lategan and Warren Dean got barrelled regularly.

Dan Thornton in a stand up barrel

The gale force winds caused by a double cold front brought 3 days of solid 8 foot surf and many surfers got hammered on the paddle out. Lyle Meek was washed over the razor sharp rocks at Supertubes and gashed his elbow badly.

Craig Els, Dan Thornton and Warren Dean all had great waves, with Wazza getting the barrel of the swell.

Stanley Badger who is back in town and running the Channel Island store, also got barrelled regularly and his timing was spot as ‘The Badg” got back into the J’Bay groove.

2011 will go down as one of the best winters in along time and the weather patterns still look unsettled so there may well be lots more waves on offer at Supertubes.